by Tom Goodwyn

Bio

This Week's New DVDs: May 15th 2017

La La Land, Assassin's Creed, Manchester By The Sea and The Affair are among this week's new releases on DVD.

La La Land

Lionsgate UK

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star in this musical, which has been written and directed by Whiplash's Damien Chazelle and also features John Legend, J.K. Simmons, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Rothe, Tom Everett Scott and Josh Pence in the cast.

La La Land tells the story of Gosling's Sebastian and Stone's Mia. Sebastian is a dedicated jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail piano gigs in dingy bars, while Mia is an aspiring actress serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions. The pair meet and fall in love, but, as they find success, things get very complicated.

Assassin's Creed

20th Century Fox

Michael Fassbender leads this hugely anticipated blockbuster adaptation of the computer game franchise.

Fassbender plays Callum Lynch, a descendant of the secret Assassins society who is tasked to unlock genetic memories that allow him to relive the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain, memories that will prepare him to take on the oppressive Knights Templar in the present day.

He is joined in the movie by Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Kenneth Williams and Ariane Labed. Justin Kurzel, who worked with Fassbender and Cotillard on Macbeth, is on directorial duties.

Marvel's Daredevil

The second season of Marvel's dark series, which focuses on Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer with a taste of vigilantism.

Ray Donovan

Paramount Home Entertainment

The fourth season of Liev Schreiber's compelling drama about Ray Donovan, the professional fixer for the rich and famous, gets a release this week.

Hijacked

101 Films

Denise Richards and Dolph Lundgren star in this action thriller about a thief and an FBI agent who find themselves bound together on a transatlantic flight.

Graduation

Curzon Artificial Eye

Cristian Mungiu writes, directs and produces this hard-hitting drama about a family who is thrown into crisis when their daughter is the victim of a violent sexual assault.

King Charles III

Universal Pictures

Rupert Goold directs this BBC adaptation of Mike Bartlett's controversial play. It stars Tim Pigott-Smith as the newly crowned King Charles III, who, when presented with a controversial new bill which is awaiting his royal assent before it can become law, refuses to sign and throws parliament into disarray as a result.

Away

Metrodome Distribution

Timothy Spall and Juno Temple lead this drama about a middle-aged man, crippled by alcoholism, and a young woman on the run from an abusive relationship, who wind up becoming friends under the lights in Blackpool.

Alien Hunter

High Fliers Video Distribution

This sci-fi thriller follows a group of teenagers who venture into the woods of northern California for a camping trip, in a remote area of the so-called Emerald Triangle, which is notorious for alien abductions and strange goings-on. When the rumours prove true, they're forced to call in some help, specifically from Dolph Lungren's Derek.

Rage

Precision Pictures

Ethan Hawke and Paul Giamatti star in this brutal baseball drama. It follows a Major League pitcher who loses control over his pitching and is sent down to the minor leagues, where he begins sessions with an unorthodox sports psychologist.

Rise of the Gladiators

Lightning Pictures

Stefano Milla directs this fantasy action bloodbath about a tournament where warriors of different world compete for eternal glory.